Maria Valtorta

{{Short description|Italian Catholic writer and mystic}} {{Infobox writer | name = Maria Valtorta | image = Maria Valtorta2.jpg | image_size = 150px | alt = A black and white profile picture of Valtorta | caption = Valtorta at age 15, 1912 | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1897|3|14|df=y}} | birth_place = [[Caserta]], [[Kingdom of Italy]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|1961|10|12|1897|3|14|df=y}} | death_place = [[Viareggio]], Italy | resting_place = [[Santissima Annunziata, Florence|Basilica of Santissima Annunziata]], Florence | nationality = Italian | genre = [[Christian mysticism]], [[Vision (spirituality)|visions]] | other_names = | notableworks = ''[[The Poem of the Man-God]]'' <br>''[[The Book of Azariah]]'' | occupation = }}

'''Maria Valtorta''' (14 March 1897 – 12 October 1961) was an Italian [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] writer. A [[Franciscan tertiary]] and a lay member of the [[Servants of Mary]], she reported that she had personal [[Visions of Jesus and Mary|conversations with, and dictations from]], [[Jesus Christ]]. She lived much of her life bedridden in [[Viareggio, Italy|Viareggio]] in Tuscany.

She is best known for her 5,000 page book ''[[The Poem of the Man-God]]'', first published in 1956 and later titled ''The Gospel as Revealed to Me''. The book was mostly written from 1944 to 1947 and was later translated into many languages. The book was placed on the ''[[Index Librorum Prohibitorum]]'' in 1959. In 2025, the [[Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith]] stated that her writings do not have a supernatural origin.

Various Biblical experts, historians, and scientists continue to support and criticize the book to this day. Her work has been compared to the writings of other Catholic authors claiming visions and yearly conferences have been held in Italy regarding her works.

== Life ==

=== Early life and education === Valtorta was born in 1897 in [[Caserta]], just north of [[Naples]], in the [[Campania]] region of Italy, where her father's military regiment was stationed.<ref name=autobio1>Maria Valtorta, Autobiography, Editions Paulines, 1991, Chapter 1</ref><ref name="caserta">{{Cite web |title=Intitolati alla casertana Maria Valtorta i giardini di Voghera |url=https://www.casertanews.it/eventi/cultura/053929_celebrazioni-caserta-intitolati-casertana-maria-valtorta-giardini-voghera.html |access-date=2025-03-05 |website=CasertaNews |language=it}}</ref> She was the only child of parents who had both been born in the [[Lombardy]] region. Her father, Giuseppe, was in the Italian cavalry; her mother, Iside, was a teacher of French.<ref name=caserta /><ref name="RLuarentin" /> In 1898 the family moved with his father's regiment to [[Faenza]] in [[Emilia-Romagna]].<ref name=autobio1 /><ref name=Olmi />

In 1900 her father's regiment moved to Milan and the Valtorta family lived in Lombardy until his retirement about 12 years later.<ref name=autobio1 /><ref name="RLuarentin" /><ref name=Amato>Pasquale Amato, Il Tempo Di Primavera, Pellegrini Editore, pp 206</ref> In 1907 the regiment moved to [[Voghera]] where Maria attended school and where the park "Gardens of Maria Valtorta" was inaugurated in her name in 2013.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-05-12 |title=Il parco per Maria Valtorta |url=https://laprovinciapavese.gelocal.it/pavia/cronaca/2013/05/12/news/il-parco-per-maria-valtorta-1.7051861 |access-date=2025-03-05 |website=La Provincia Pavese |language=it}}</ref><ref name=caserta />

In March 1909, just before her 12th birthday, Maria was sent to the Collegio Bianconi boarding school in [[Monza]], just north of Milan.<ref name=Olmi>Massimo Olmi, Indagine sulla croce di Cristo, La Fontana di Siloe, 2015, Section "Visioni della Croce"</ref><ref name="RLuarentin" /><ref name=autobio2>Maria Valtorta, Autobiography, Editions Paulines, 1991, Chapter 2</ref> She studied there until March 1913 when just before her 16th birthday she had to leave Lombardy with her family for [[Florence]], in [[Tuscany]], due to her father's retirement from the military.<ref name=Olmi /><ref name=autobio2 />

===A decade in Florence=== [[File:Maria Valtorta3.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Maria and her classmates at the Collegio Bianconi, [[Monza]], soon before she moved to Florence]] The [[First World War]] (1914–1918) started about a year after the Valtorta family had settled in [[Florence]], and Italy [[Military history of Italy during World War I|entered the war]] in April 1915 on the side of the allies.<ref name=autobio3>Maria Valtorta, Autobiography, Editions Paulines, 1991, Chapter 3</ref><ref name=Olmi /> In 1917 Valtorta volunteered as a Samaritan nurse, and for 18 months worked at a [[military hospital]] set up in Florence to care for the wounded soldiers who had returned from the war.<ref name=autobio3 /><ref name=Olmi /><ref name="LaurentinDebrois2012">{{Cite book |last=Laurentin |first=René |title=Indagine su Maria: Le Rivelazioni dei Mistici sulla Vita della Madonna |last2=Debroise |first2=François-Michel |publisher=[[Mondadori]] |year=2012 |isbn=978-8804615880 |at=Chap. 12 |language=it}}</ref>

In March 1920, when she was 23 years old, Maria was walking on a street in Florence with her mother, when the young and delinquent son of her mother's dress maker (who was a [[Italian fascism|fascist]]) struck her in the back with an iron bar and shouted a slogan against the wealthy and the [[bourgeoisie]].<ref name=autobio3 /><ref name="RLuarentin" /><ref name=Olmi />

As a result of that injury, she was confined to bed for a few months and although she seemed to have recovered, the complications from that incident eventually confined her to bed for 28 years, from April 1934 to the end of her life.<ref name="RLuarentin" /><ref name=Amato />

=== Settling in Viareggio=== In October 1924, when Maria was 27 years old, the Valtorta family moved from Florence to [[Viareggio]], on the coast of the Mediterranean, as part of her father's final retirement.<ref name=autobio4>Maria Valtorta, Autobiography, Editions Paulines, 1991, Chapter 4</ref><ref name=Amato /><ref name="RLuarentin" /> Over time, Maria's back injury affected her health in a progressive manner, and the last day she was able to leave her house on her own, given her high level of fatigue, was 4 January 1933. From 1 April 1934 she was no longer able to leave her bed at all.<ref name="RLuarentin" /><ref name=Olmi />

In 1935, a year after she was bed-ridden, Martha Diciotti began to care for her.<ref name=IlGiornale>Stefano Lorenzetti "Tipi Italiani" [[Il Giornale]] 24 August 2014</ref> Valtorta's father died in 1935 and her mother in 1943, after which she was mostly alone in the house, with Martha Diciotti taking care of her to the end of her life.<ref name=autobio4 /><ref name=IlGiornale /> After 1941, except for a brief wartime evacuation to [[Sant'Andrea di Compito]] in [[Lucca]], from April to December 1944, during the [[Second World War]], Valtorta's life was spent in her bed at her house in Via Antonio Fratti in Viareggio.<ref name=IlGiornale /><ref name=autobio4 /><ref name="RLuarentin" />

In 1942, Valtorta was visited by [[Romualdo Migliorini]], then a priest of the [[Servants of Mary]] and later a bishop. He became her spiritual director and suggested she write her autobiography, which she completed in 1943.<ref name="RLuarentin">{{Cite book |last=Laurentin |first=René |title=Dictionnaire des Personnages de l'Evangile Selon Maria Valtorta |last2=Debroise |first2=François-Michel |last3=Lavère |first3=Jean-François |publisher=Salvator |year=2012 |isbn=978-2706709616 |pages=9-19 |language=fr}}</ref><ref name=autobio7>Maria Valtorta, Autobiography, Editions Paulines, 1991, Chapter 7</ref><ref name=Olmi /> In her autobiography Valtorta wrote that both in Florence and Viareggio, she had deep religious experiences which transformed her life.<ref name=autobio4 /><ref name="RLuarentin" /> In 1925, soon after moving to Viareggio, she was influenced by the autobiography of [[Thérèse de Lisieux]], and made a vow to offer herself to God as a [[victim soul]] and to renew that offer each day.<ref name=autobio4 /><ref name="Freze">{{Cite book |last=Freze |first=Michael |title=Voices, Visions, and Apparitions |publisher=OSV Publishing |year=1993 |isbn=087973454X |pages=251}}</ref><ref name="LaurentinDebrois2012"/>

===From handwriting to publication===

[[File:Maria Valtorta4.jpg|thumb|180px|right|In 1918, at age 21, in the uniform of a Samaritan nurse, during the First World War]] After completing her autobiography, in 1943 Valtorta began handwriting a series of what she claimed were messages from Jesus.<ref name =RLuarentin /><ref name="Lind324">{{Cite book |last=Lindsey |first=David Michael |title=The Woman and the Dragon: Apparitions of Mary |publisher=Pelican Publishing Company |year=2001 |isbn=978-1565547315 |location= |pages=324-326}}</ref> From 1943 to 1947 Valtorta hand wrote about 15,000 pages in her notebooks, 10,000 of which were later selected as the basis of her main book [[The Poem of the Man-God]], and the rest were gradually organized and published after her death.<ref name=IlGiornale /><ref name =RLuarentin />

Valtorta wrote her text in a series of 122 school notebooks purchased for her by her priest.<ref name=IlGiornale /> She used a [[fountain pen]] to write in her numbered notebooks, but did not write the episodes for her ''Poem'' in chronological order, and instead included markings as to how they should be ordered after the book had been completed.<ref name=IlGiornale /><ref name="LaurentinDebrois2012" />

Valtorta was initially reluctant to have any of her handwritten notes published but in 1947 her spiritual director convinced her to agree to their publication.<ref name="RLuarentin" /><ref name="Peter1">Rookey [[Servite Order|O.S.M.]], Peter M., ''Shepherd of Souls: The Virtuous Life of Saint Anthony Pucci'', (Jun 2003) {{ISBN|1891280449}} CMJ Marian Press pp. 1-3</ref> Nonetheless, the first four-volume edition of the book was published anonymously.<ref name="VitaJesu">{{Cite news |date=6 January 1960 |title=Una vita de Jesù malamente romanzata |url=http://maria-valtorta.net/images/losservatore_1960.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230511035400/http://maria-valtorta.net/images/losservatore_1960.pdf |archive-date=11 May 2023 |access-date=14 June 2023 |work=[[L'Osservatore Romano]] |pages=1 |language=Italian |issue=4}}</ref>

In February 1948, the priests Miglorini, Corrado Berti, and their prior Chechin had a private audience with [[Pope Pius XII]] about her work, which was reported on in the [[L'Osservatore Romano]].<ref>L'Osservatore Romano 27 February 1948</ref> Although Pius XII had expressed admiration for the book, in 1949 the Holy Office summoned Berti and ordered him not to publish it.<ref name="Pillari">{{Cite web |last=Pillari |first=Anthony |date=2017 |title=The Current Juridic and Moral Value of the Index of Forbidden Books |url=https://ruor.uottawa.ca/bitstream/10393/37164/4/Anthony%20PILLARI.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230702183046/https://ruor.uottawa.ca/bitstream/10393/37164/4/Anthony%20PILLARI.pdf |archive-date=2 July 2023 |access-date=2 July 2023 |website=[[Saint Paul University]], Faculty of Canon Law |pages=26,36}}</ref>

In 1952 Michele Pisani agreed to publish Valtorta's work and a contract was signed by Valtorta in October 1952.<ref name=IlGiornale /> The first edition of her ''Poem'' was published in 1956 and the Pisani form has since continued to publish the rest of her writings,<ref name=IlGiornale />

{{Interlanguage link|Joachim Bouflet|lt=Joachim Bouflet|fr}} states that most of Maria Valtorta's life is known "only by the [[autobiography]] she wrote when she was 46 years old".<ref name="Bouflet">{{Cite book |last=Bouflet |first=Joachim |title=Impostures mystiques |publisher=[[Éditions du Cerf]] |year=2023 |isbn=978-2-204-15520-5 |language=fr |trans-title=Mystical Frauds |chapter=Fraudes Mystiques Récentes – Maria Valtorta (1897-1961) – Anachronismes et incongruités}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=May 2023}} However, at least two biographies of Valtorta based on taped interviews with people who personally knew her have been published, one titled ''Ricordi di Donne Che Conobbero Maria Valtorta,'' (Memories of Women Who Knew Maria Valtorta)<ref>{{Cite book |last=Centoni |first=Albo |title=Ricordi di Donne Che Conobbero Maria Valtorta |publisher=Centro Editoriale Valtortiano |year=1998 |isbn=978-8879870405 |language=it |trans-title=Memories of Women Who Knew Maria Valtorta}}</ref> and another titled ''Una Vita con Maria Valtorta: Testimonianze di Marta Diciotti'' (A Life with Maria Valtorta: Testimony of Marta Diciotti).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Centoni |first=Albo |title=Una Vita con Maria Valtorta: Testimonianze di Marta Diciotti |publisher=Centro Editoriale Valtortiano |year=1987 |isbn=978-8879870443 |language=it |trans-title=A life with Maria Valtorta: Testimony of Marta Diciotti}}</ref>

=== Death === [[File:Santissima Annunziata1.JPG|thumb|230px|[[Santissima Annunziata, Florence|Basilica of Santissima Annunziata, Florence]], the mother church of the [[Servite Order]], where Maria Valtorta is buried.<ref name="Jane50">{{Cite book |last=Fortune |first=Jane |title=To Florence con Amore: 90 Ways to Love the City |publisher=Florentine Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-8890243486 |edition=2nd |pages=50}}</ref>]] Maria Valtorta died in 1961, at age 64, and was buried in the town cemetery in Viareggio.<ref name="RLuarentin" /><ref name=IlGiornale /> Later, in 1973, her remains were moved to the [[chapel]] of the great [[cloister]] of the [[Santissima Annunziata, Florence|Basilica della Santissima Annunziata]] in [[Florence]].<ref name=IlGiornale /><ref name="Jane50" /> Presiding over the services at Valtorta's "privileged burial" and the relocation of her remains from Viareggio to the Santissima Annunziata Basilica, the mother church of the [[Servite Order|Servants of Mary]], was [[Gabriel Roschini|Gabriel M. Roschini]], who had written a book about her.<ref>Publisher's Notice in the Second Italian Edition (1986), reprinted in English Edition, Gabriel Roschini, O.S.M. (1989). ''The Virgin Mary in the Writings of Maria Valtorta'' (English Edition). Kolbe's Publication Inc.{{ISBN|2-920285-08-4}}</ref>

==Writings== === ''The Poem of the Man-God'' === {{main|The Poem of the Man-God}}  Valtorta's best known book is ''The Poem of the Man God''. Valtorta signed a contract with Michele Pisani in 1952 to publish the book, and the first of the four volumes was published without an author name under the Italian title ''Il Poema di Gesu'' (''The Poem of Jesus'').<ref name="Condemnation">{{Cite news |date=6 January 1960 |title=Suprema Sacra Congregatio Sanctii Officii: Decretum Proscriptio Librorum |url=http://maria-valtorta.net/images/losservatore_1960.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230511035400/http://maria-valtorta.net/images/losservatore_1960.pdf |archive-date=11 May 2023 |access-date=14 June 2023 |work=[[L'Osservatore Romano]] |pages=1 |language=Latin |issue=4}}</ref> The other three volumes were also published without an author name, but had a different Italian title: ''Il Poema dell'Uomo-Dio'' (''The Poem of the Man-God'').

=== Other books === [[File:Capitolo della ss. annunziata, 13 tomba maria valtorta.JPG|thumb|200px|Tomb of Valtorta at the [[Basilica of Santissima Annunziata]] in Florence]] After Valtorta's death in 1961, several books based on material contained in her handwritten notebooks were gradually published.<ref name=IlGiornale /> Her autobiography, which she had completed in 1943, was published in 1969.<ref name=autobio1 /> In 1972, her ''Book of Azariah'' was published, based on material she had written every Sunday from the end of February 1946 to the beginning of February 1947. The book contains spiritual lessons about the [[Catholic Mass]]es said on those Sundays. Valtorta wrote that the lessons were given to her by Azariah, her [[guardian angel]].<ref name=Azariah>Maria Valtorta, The Book of Azaria, 1976, 978-8879871433</ref><ref name="LaurentinDebrois2012b">{{Cite book |last=Laurentin |first=René |title=Indagine su Maria: Le Rivelazioni dei Mistici sulla Vita della Madonna |last2=Debroise |first2=François-Michel |publisher=[[Mondadori]] |year=2012 |isbn=978-8804615880 |at=Bibliografia section |language=it}}</ref>

In 1976 the first of the four volumes of her "Notebooks" were published. These were based on material interspersed with the text for her ''Poem'' within the 122 school notebooks which she had used to write her text.<ref name=IlGiornale /> In 1977 the book ''Lessons on the Epistle of Paul to the Romans'' was published in Italian, containing comments on Paul's [[Letter to the Romans]].<ref>Maria Valtorta "Lezioni sull'Epistola di Paolo ai Romani" 1977 ISBN 8879871501</ref> In 2006 additional unpublished pages from her handwritten notebooks were gathered and published in Italian as the ''Small Notebooks''.<ref>Maria Valtorta "Quadernetti " 2006 ISBN 8879871390</ref> Valtorta's books were translated into other languages beside Italian.<ref name="LaurentinDebrois2012" /><ref name=IlGiornale />

== Legacy == Before her death in 1961, Valtorta assigned her assistant Marta Diciotti as the heir to her writings, and in 2001 Marta Diciotti in turn assigned Emilio and Claudia Pisani as her heirs.<ref name="IlGiornale" /> The Pisanis then formed a foundation dedicated to the works of Maria Valtorta.<ref name="IlGiornale" /> Since Valtorta's death the Pisani organization has been publishing books based on Valtorta's handwritten notebooks and her ''Poem'' has been translated into over 20 languages.<ref name="IlGiornale" /> Yearly conferences on the scientific and theological aspects of her writings are held in Italy.<ref name="RLuarentin" /><ref name="Pillari" /><ref name="ToscanaO">{{Cite web |date=2017-10-18 |title=Viareggio, convegno su Maria Valtorta: «I suoi scritti sono un mistero» - ToscanaOggi |url=https://www.toscanaoggi.it/viareggio-convegno-su-maria-valtorta-i-suoi-scritti-sono-un-mistero/ |access-date=2025-03-05 |language=it-IT}}</ref><ref name="Nazione1">[[La Nazione]], "Nuovi studi e scoperte sulla tomba di S.Pietro", 23 October 2021.</ref>

Separately, the Maria Valtorta Foundation was formed in 2009 in Viareggio by Ernesto Zucchini, a priest and professor of theology, and has been holding yearly conferences on the writings of Valtorta in Viareggio, and presentations about her at various locations in Italy.<ref name="zenit">Rita Ricci, "Alla scoperta dell’vangelo di Maria Valtorta" [[Zenit News Agency|Zenit]] 16 October 2016 [https://it.zenit.org/2016/10/16/alla-scoperta-dellevangelo-di-maria-valtorta/]</ref><ref name="ToscanaO" /><ref>"Indagine sugli scritti di Maria Valtorta" [[La Nazione]] 14 November 2020</ref><ref>"Don Zucchini ricorda la figura di Maria Valtorta" [[Il Resto del Carlino]], 23 May 2023</ref> The conference on 12 October 2021 (the 60th anniversary of Valtorta's death) was attended by [[Paolo Giulietti]], the [[Archbishop of Lucca]], who has jurisdiction over the city of [[Viareggio]], and he gave a talk about the life and writings of Valtorta.<ref name="Nazione1" />

Over the years authors such as [[Daniel Klimek]] and Rene Laurentin have discussed Valtorta's work along with those of [[Mary of Jesus of Ágreda|Maria Agreda]] and [[Anne Catherine Emmerich]]. Klimek, a Franciscan priest and theologian, states that although all three authors have claimed visions, their writings conflict at various points. He adds that Valtorta's work has been impressive due to the knowledge it contains regarding obscure geographic locations identified after her death.<ref>Daniel M. Klimek, Medjugorje and the Supernatural Oxford Univ Press 2018, pp 58</ref> Laurentin performed specific comparisons of the works of the three authors and noted similarities, but also dfferences.<ref>Rene Laurentin, Un Avent avec Marie vers l'an 2000, Fayed, 2014.</ref>

== Support and criticism == {{main|The Poem of the Man-God#Support}} {{main|The Poem of the Man-God#Criticism}}

Valtorta's work became controversial, soon after its publication, given that a January 1960 article in ''[[L'Osservatore Romano]]'' called the book a badly fictionalized life of Jesus.<ref>"Una vita di Gesu malamente romanzata" ''L'Osservatore Romano'', January 6, 1960</ref> The same issue of L'Osservatore announced the placement of the book on the [[Index Librorum Prohibitorum|''Index of Forbidden Books'']]. A notice in the December 1, 1961 issue of L'Osservatore stated that the placement on the Index was due to the lack of an [[imprimatur]].<ref>''L'Osservatore Romano'', December 1, 1961</ref> On 15 June 1966, the [[Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith|Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith]] abolished the ''Index'', and all formal sanctions against reading books placed on the ''Index'' ended.<ref name="IndexDead">{{Cite news |last=Ottaviani |first=Alfredo |date=15 June 1966 |title=Notificatio |url=http://maria-valtorta.net/images/losservetore_1966.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230511035530/http://maria-valtorta.net/images/losservetore_1966.pdf |archive-date=11 May 2023 |access-date=14 June 2023 |work=[[L'Osservatore Romano]] |page=1 |language=Latin |issue=136}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Collins |first=Paul |title=From Inquisition to Freedom |publisher=Continuum International Publishing |year=2001 |isbn=978-0826454157 |page=18}}</ref><ref name="Pillari" /> In 2025, the same office declared Valtorta's writings as non-supernatural in origin.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Press Release regarding the Writings of Maria Valtorta (22 February 2025) |url=https://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/congregations/cfaith/documents/rc_ddf_doc_20250222_comunicato-scritti-valtorta_en.html |access-date=2025-03-05 |website=Vatican}}</ref>

Valtorta's work has continued to remain controversial and various Biblical experts, historians and scientists support and criticize it to this day, and yearly conferences on the scientific and theological aspects of her writings are held in Italy.<ref name =RLuarentin /><ref name="Pillari"/><Ref name= ToscanaO /><Ref name= Nazione1/> Scientists Emilio Matricciani and Liberato De Caro support her work based on astronomical and mathematical analysis.<ref name="Matri1">{{Cite journal |last1=Matricciano |first1=Emilio |last2=De Caro |first2=Liberato |date=2017 |title=Literary Fiction or Ancient Astronomical and Meteorological Observations in the Work of Maria Valtorta? |url= |journal=Religions |volume=8 |issue=6 |page=110 |doi=10.3390/rel8060110 |doi-access=free |hdl=11311/1060871 |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Matri2">{{Cite journal |last1=Matricciano |first1=Emilio |last2=La Greca |first2=Fernando |last3=De Caro |first3=Liberato |date=2021 |title=Hidden and Coherent Chronology of Jesus' Life in the Literary Work of Maria Valtorta |url= |journal=SCIREA Journal of Sociology|volume=5 |issue=6 |doi=10.54647/sociology84718|doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="StatsAnalysis">{{Cite journal |last1=Matricciani |first1=Emilio |last2=De Caro |first2=Liberato |date=2018 |title=A Mathematical Analysis of Maria Valtorta's Mystical Writings |journal=Religions |volume=9 |issue=11 |pages=373 |doi=10.3390/rel9110373|hdl=11311/1125389 |hdl-access=free |doi-access=free }}</ref> Gianfranco Battisti, a professor of geography, supports the book based on its about 500 geographic and topographic descriptions.<ref name=Battisti>Gianfranco Battisti "Geographie del Sacro" Documenti Geografici, Associazione dei Geogfi Italiani, July-December 2019. An English version of the article appears in the book "Hidden Geographies" edited by Marko Krevs, [[Springer Publishing]] 2021, pp 71-85.</ref> Biblical scholara such as [[Gabriele Allegra]], [[Gabriel Roschini ]] and [[René Laurentin ]] support the book based on its theological contents and scriptural analysis.<ref name=DeMarco>Vittorio De Marco "Il Beato P. Gabriele M. Allegra" Libreria Editrice Vaticana 2014 pp 286-287.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Roschini |first=Gabriel M. |url=http://archive.org/details/virginmaryinwrit0000rosc |title=The Virgin Mary in the Writings of Maria Valtorta |date=1993 |publisher=Kolbe's Publications. |isbn=978-2-920285-11-8 |edition=3rd |location=Sherbrooke |pages=3, 21 |translator-last=Atworth |translator-first=Paul T. Y.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Laurentin |first1=René |title=Dictionnaire des Personnages de l'Evangile Selon Maria Valtorta |last2=Debroise |first2=François-Michel |last3=Lavère |first3=Jean-François |publisher=Salvator |year=2012 |isbn=978-2706709616 |pages=9–19 |language=fr}}</ref>

Cardinal [[Joseph Ratzinger]] and [[Archbishop]] [[Dionigi Tettamanzi]] have written letters stating that the material in the book is just literary and has no supernatural origin.<ref name="Pillari"/><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Laurentin |first1=René |title=Indagine su Maria: Le Rivelazioni dei Mistici sulla Vita della Madonna |last2=Debroise |first2=François-Michel |publisher=[[Mondadori]] |year=2012 |isbn=978-8804615880 |at=Chap. 12, p. 624 |language=it}}</ref> Historian Joachim Bouflet has criticized the book based on his historical analysis.<ref name="Bouflet">{{Cite book |last=Bouflet |first=Joachim |title=Impostures mystiques |publisher=[[Éditions du Cerf]] |year=2023 |isbn=978-2-204-15520-5 |language=fr |trans-title=Mystical Frauds |chapter=Fraudes Mystiques Récentes – Maria Valtorta (1897-1961) – Anachronismes et incongruités}}</ref> Author Sandra Miesel criticized the book on general grounds.<ref>{{cite web | title="A monument to pseudo-religiosity": A case against the Poem of the Man-God | url=https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2021/09/14/a-monument-to-pseudo-religiosity-a-case-against-the-poem-of-the-man-god/ }}</ref>

==Works== * ''The Poem of the Man-God'', {{ASIN|B001DBLAVS}}, * ''The Gospel as Revealed to Me'', {{ASIN|B01E6291GQ}} * ''[[The Book of Azariah]]'', {{ASIN|8879870130}} * ''The End Times'', {{ASIN| 2894202210}} * ''Mary Magdalene'', {{ASIN|8879871323}} * ''Lessons on the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans'', {{ASIN|B091NDKRTQ}} * ''Valtorta and Ferri'', {{ASIN|887987134X}} * ''The Notebooks 1943'', {{ASIN|8879870327}} * ''The Notebooks 1944'', {{ASIN|8879870424}} * ''The Notebooks 1945–1950'', {{ASIN|8879870882}} * ''The Little Notebooks'' * ''Autobiography'', {{ASIN|B000BY4XKS}}

==See also== {{div col}} * [[Alexandrina of Balazar]] * [[Marthe Robin]] {{div col end}}

==References== {{reflist|2}}

==External links== {{commons category|Maria Valtorta}} * Maria Valtorta Heritage Foundation [https://www.mariavaltorta.com/en/home/] * Full text of book in English per the Valtorta Heritage Foundation [https://wordthatgiveslife.com] * Maria Valtorta Foundation, Viareggio [https://fondazionemariavaltorta.it/]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Valtorta, Maria}} [[Category:1897 births]] [[Category:1961 deaths]] [[Category:20th-century Christian mystics]] [[Category:Italian women poets]] [[Category:Italian women nurses]] [[Category:Italian nurses]] [[Category:Italian Roman Catholics]] [[Category:People from Caserta]] [[Category:Third Order of Saint Francis]] [[Category:Visions of Jesus and Mary]] [[Category:Roman Catholic mystics]] [[Category:Women Christian mystics]] [[Category:Channellers]] [[Category:Citation overkill]] [[Category:20th-century nurses]] [[Category:20th-century women Christian religious leaders]]